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With talk of a new album by this once-obscure (though not quite as obscure as the Searching For Sugar Man doc might have you believe) singer-songwriter, the appearance of an unofficial remix seems like an inevitable byproduct of Rodriquez’s new-found fame. While fans of 1970’s Cold Fact might recoil at the thought of anybody, let alone a pair of Swiss DJs, tampering with such (retroactively) hallowed material, this isn’t so much a makeover as a case of adding some sonic muscle to the original (bit.ly/2fTFiL). For non-purists, the result is commendable. (bit.ly/11QmMx5 )

9. SAM SMITH

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“Lay Me Down” (acoustic)

While it’s difficult to resist the notion that, as one blogger mused, this new British singer might be “the male version of Adele” (http://bit.ly/UW1klZ ), we’re not exactly sure what that might be. Someone whose image defies the pop-star stereotype? Someone who fearlessly sings about intimate details others would try to obscure? Or just someone with a great set of pipes? Certainly the last two appear in abundance on this stripped-down voice-and-piano version (bit.ly/Xr5L5s) of Smith’s current single (bit.ly/11iohVw ). “Male Adele” or not, he bears watching in 2013.

8. SHONEN KNIFE

“When You Sleep”

While some of us struggle to fall in love with M B V (bit.ly/14HWoVD), the first album in 22 years from shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine, a bunch of Japanese bands have gotten together to remind us what was so great about the one that preceded it, 1991’s Loveless — and to mess with everything that made it that way. Take this cover by the all-female Japanese pop-punk trio. In place of the woozy carnival ambience of the original (bit.ly/L01wJR(bit.ly/L01wJR), Shonen Knife has forced the song’s submerged pop instincts to the surface. That means affectionate nods to everyone from Phil Spector to Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys. (From Yellow Loveless, bit.ly/WNnhEc )

7. VIKTOR TAIWO

“Kiss You”

What would happen if a truly soulful singer got hold of a bouncy One Direction hit (bit.ly/WoIkss) and slowed down its brightly lit adolescent rush to something more closely resembling the low lighting of Usher’s “Climax” (bit.ly/wjoYQj)? You’d get the year’s most unlikely seduction song. (bit.ly/VHnydT )

6. THE DELTA RIGGS

“Rah Rah Radio”

This Melbourne act might be the most instantly likable rock band to come out of Australia since Jet. Loud, fast, and sneering, their latest single makes something like “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” (bit.ly/5sxC1w) sound like a model of nuance by comparison. In fact, the song’s antecedents are probably closer to The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” (bit.ly/TyRZL) and Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner”(bit.ly/bX9fLb), two punk-pop classics that sounded driven by the need to avoid boring the people singing them for even one second. (thedeltariggs.bandcamp.com)

“Coffee ‘til midnight/And tears until dawn.” Along with Daniel Romano (mysp.ac/VCATPh), this Halifax-based artist specializes in a kind of country music that sounds like it’s been unearthed rather than newly recorded. Bearing a passing resemblance to John Prine’s “Dear Abby” (bit.ly/mcUY5b), with a lower smartass quotient, this features a narrator who wallows in melancholy while sounding bemused about his predicament. (From Coffee ‘Til Midnight, bit.ly/VMFIYu )

It’s barely been a month since we wrote about their previous single, “Barriers” (bit.ly/WPqVdF), but this second taste of next month’s reunion album is even more adept at evoking the glory days of Britpop without sounding trapped in amber. Think of it as progressive nostalgia. (From Bloodsports, bit.ly/14xhm8R )

3. CLEVELAND EATON

“All Your Lover, All Day, All Night”

Part of an outstanding compilation of the short-lived Black Jazz label put together by DJ/record hound/Acid Jazz co-founder Gilles Peterson, this rumbling groove owes more than a little to The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (bit.ly/wfghGg). The work of a jazz/funk bassist from Alabama whose eclectic career includes both Count Basie and Minnie Riperton, it’s just one of a dozen prime cuts that comprise one of the season’s more potent acts of curation. (From Gilles Peterson - Black Jazz Radio, http://snwdg.com )

2. HANNI EL KHATIB

“Family”

We cannot for the life of us understand how this part Filipino, part Palestinian musician/skateboarder isn’t already at least as famous as the guy who’s producing him. That would be Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, whose “Lonely Boy” (bit.ly/vsOXrb) would make a perfect segue into, or out of, this pedal-to-the-metal rocker. (From Head in the Dirt, out April 30, http://rol.st/VHkU84)

1. RHYE

“Open”

This L.A.-based duo of Toronto-born musician/producer Mike Milosh (bit.ly/XoC3NZ) and singer Robin Hannibal from Danish band Quadron — who had a brush with fame after Adele proclaimed this single (http://bit.ly/6VTPCx) her favourite song — has drawn comparisons to Sade, which might do partial justice to the sleepily seductive vocals but otherwise does Rhye a considerable disservice. While “Open” may well appeal to a constituency that likes Sade, it is rooted more in downbeat electronica than in soul. That distinction makes this song feel less about seduction and more about avoiding regret. (From Woman, out March 4, bit.ly/WpMV2v )

This must be a first: a music video filmed entirely inside an MRI machine. The result is 3 ½ minutes of footage of the inside of this Cambridge singer’s head — while he’s singing this song. Reportedly inspired by research at London’s St. Bartholomew’s Hospital into children’s cleft palates (bit.ly/V5lmcx), this soon morphs from unsettling to fascinating, helped immeasurably by the kind of hypnotic and insidiously catchy pop song that deserves as much attention as the video that accompanies it. (sivusivu.co.uk)

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